Thursday, April 26, 2012

Ilish Maacher Tauk -- heady memories

Amidst the umpteen other things that my Dida(maternal grandmother) cooked, there was an Ilish Maccher Tauk. Heads of ambrosial Ilish suspended in a thick, brown, sweet and syrupy liquid that was sweetened with jaggery and soured by ripe tamarind. To call it a "Hilsa Head Chutney" would be plain blasphemy.

It was a backstage kinda dish. I mean while the choicest pieces of Ilish were fried and served as is in a bhaja, the beautiful steak pieces steamed as a bhapa in clinging mustard sauce with fluffed white rice, the fish roe were fried and served with the tel and fresh green chili, the head and the tail led a sad life in waiting.

"Too many bones. Can't eat it", said the young girls in the family with a toss of freshly washed step-cut hair.

"Not enough meat in these pieces", said the grown up men who thought it beneath themselves to be served a lyaja -- a fish tail.

"Rohu heads are better. This has a strong smell", said the younger men, their faces till gentle, their opinion yet not chauvinistic.

And so the matha and the lyaja -- the fish head and the fish tail -- waited in my Dida's kitchen till she was done with the bhaja, the jhaal, the jhol. By then the sun was high up, the crows sitting on the Neem tree outside the kitchen were tired of all the cawing, the neighborhood cat had a princely meal of Ilish fish scales and was patiently waiting by the kaltala for the remains from the men's lunch plates who could never chew on the fish bones. The kaajer mashi--the house help-- Minoti'r Ma was hovering around the back door waiting to see which piece she would be taking home.

It was then that my Dida opened up a green lidded plastic jar where lay a block of tamarind, brown, ripe and sticky wrapped in a piece of Bartaman.

The matha and the lyaja heaved relief. They loved the tauk. They loved being in that tangy, sweet liquid where they were the stars of the dish.

Minoti'r Ma stopped fretting and came to sit by the stove. I kept telling Ma that I would have lunch later with Dida and the older women. Dida put the kadahi back on the unoon and poured some more Mustard Oil in it. Minoti'r Ma rubbed the tamarind in a bowl full of water to take out the seeds and make the "kaath". The water slowly turned a deep burnt sienna and the kadhai hissed with scarlet red chili and mustard seeds. The matha and lyaja nudged each other and smiled. Their moment had come. As they bubbled in the tamarind gravy of the tauk sweetened by jaggery I waited patiently for the last course of my meal. The Ilish maacher Matha'r tauk.

My Mother made this tauk way back in March when she was visiting. I merely hovered around in anticipation. She and I are the only ones in the family who will eat this dish nowadays. So I wait for her--to visit us---and amidst many other things to cook me a Ilish Maacher tauk.

47 comments:

I so envy you. I still haven't figured out any place in Austin where I can get good fish. Living on the vacuum sealed flounder/tilapia/shrimps (am not a big fan of salmon, so dropped that one). Couple of days back used your recipe on kumro chingri boti, and it turned out so well. Posted it on my blog today, thank you once again for the amazing recipe.

At least in your family it is allowed to put jaggery in a tauk preparation. At my home it is sheer blasphemy. So I can never enjoy a tauk. It's like your teeth are melting due to the sharp acid od the tamarind. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

You brought the matha and lyaja so much to life, their nudging each other was almost palpable. And the tastes and smells that this peice invoked, proves that technology is not necessarily the master at creating the "reality feel", a good author can do it with one stroke of their pen too!! Good luck with your writing!

What is Bartaman? A magazine? At home, we've always added jaggery to a certain kind of tamarind gravy, but only to vegetables. Not all homes use jaggery, however, and one of my Uncles would make a point of telling his cook to use jaggery. Till one day the faithful cook also used it in fish curry! There is also a story about a cook who used vanilla essence in a chicken dish - that's for another day!

Tomar Ilish Mach ta ki fresh dekhte lagche. Satti, took me down memory lane and other special recipes that we miss so much. Would love to try some. Now I have to go looking for a whole Ilish Mach. Even I used to know a minoti and still know her ma. :)

oh you are bringing out the memories of all those visits and stays at my two sets of grand parents! Kumro-begun-mulo-ranga aloo-bori diye tauk, kucho chingri ri touk, mourala macher tauk, ilish er matha ar lyaja diye tauk, rui katlar r o tauk..every lunch used to end up with some tamarind based tauk and every lunch would have some kind of posto...there used to be occasional presence of chutneys- again elaborate series of them..loved those days of pampered childhood...

No BEV, Sour is not really typical. Unlike Southern india where sour is predominant in Eastern india sour is restricted to just a dish to finish off the meal. Send me a mail and we can discuss this over there.

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Predominantly a Bong, who loves being a Mom and loves to cook among other things for the li'l one and the big ones.She loves to write too and you will find her food spiced up with stories. Mainly a collection of Bengali Recipes with other kinds thrown in, in good measure. A Snapshot of Bengali Cuisine